Fred’s in September announced plans to sell prescription files from stores located across 10 Southeastern states as part of the Memphis-based discount retailer’s latest attempt at a financial turnaround.

“As of December 12, 2018 we completed the sale of script files associated with approximately 138 locations to Walgreens and expect to complete the remaining 41 location transfers to Walgreens by the end of January 2019,” Fred’s Interim chief executive and chief financial officer Joe Anto said Thursday in a statement announcing the company's fiscal third quarter earnings. “As we have stated in the past, we are continuing to evaluate potential opportunities to monetize all our non-core assets including our retail pharmacy script portfolio as well as our real estate.”

Fred’s has already sold its specialty pharmacy business to CVS Health for $40 million. "We will continue to evaluate transactions for the remainder of our pharmacy business, as well as our own real estate portfolio," Anto said in a Thursday morning call to discuss earnings with analysts.

The exit from the pharmacy business by Fred’s comes after the retailer was unable to escalate its shift to healthcare when a deal to buy hundreds of Rite Aid stores ended abruptly last year. An attempt by Walgreens to buy Rite Aid and satisfy the Federal Trade Commission by selling 865 Rite Aid stores to Fred’s was unable to pass regulatory muster. Walgreens instead bought just 2,186 of the more than 4,500 Rite Aids, turning Rite Aid into a multi-regional drugstore chain and preventing Fred’s from buying hundreds of drugstores all at once.

Fred's said it's making progress on its financial turnaround and strengthening its balance sheet but the effort remains a work in progress.

Fred's net loss from continuing operations narrowed somewhat to $30.8 million in the third quarter compared to a loss of $50.4 million in the third quarter of 2017. Fred's net sales were down 5.5% to $306.4 million in the third quarter ended Nov. 3.

“There is still much work to be done with regards to our operations," Anto said. "We are continuing to execute against our turnaround plan, with a focus on bringing in talent, optimizing our cost structure and improving the front store business.”

I've written about health care for three decades, starting from my native Iowa where I covered the presidential campaign bus rides of Bill and Hillary Clinton through the Hawkeye state talking health reform and the economy. I have covered the rise, fall and rise again of he...